


keep your friends close

by nctdoyoung



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Produce X 101 (TV), UNIQ (Band), UP10TION, X1 (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, In a way, domestic seungyoun, hangyul loves his best friend, im bad at tags sorry, seungyoun would do anything for his friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 21:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20442896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nctdoyoung/pseuds/nctdoyoung
Summary: “Look, I’m not going to tell you how to feel. I’m just going to tell you that it’s okay to be mad. It’s okay to be sad, and hurt. Just please, please, know that however you feel, you can tell me about it. You can tell me how angry you are, how hurt you are, anything you’re feeling. You know that, right?”





	1. I

“Excuse me?” His voice was barely audible but that didn’t make it any less terrifying. If anything, it made it more terrifying. His nostrils were flaring, his right eye twitching the slightest bit. He was furious - no he was livid, and that was still an understatement. At that exact moment, they all knew he was most likely capable of murder and nobody dared move, least of all him, afraid of setting him off.

“You did what?” Total silence. Nobody could’ve said anything, even if they had wanted to. They never knew he could be this angry, this scary. None of them knew how to reply. Should they just tell him? Only two of them were aware of the full story, what had happened, and they sure as hell weren’t about to speak up, not if they wanted to keep their heads. 

“I, uh…” Hangyul started. Everyone’s gaze snapped to him within a second, all of the focus shifting to him. His voice was small, lacking the energy and confidence everyone was used to from him. The entire situation was beyond strange, with Seungyoun mad and Hangyul sounding so fragile, it seemed like an alternate universe. 

“I think, maybe, the two of you should talk in private. I feel like we’ll keep standing in silence if all of us are here,” he spoke hesitantly. Hangyul had never sounded so cautious while talking to his best friend, but it was probably for the best that he had been the one to break the silence. Seungyoun wouldn’t snap at him. 

Seungyoun didn’t say anything, he just looked at Wooseok, his gaze saying more than enough. The eyes are the portal to the soul, and his soul was burning white hot with anger, flames all but bursting from his eyes as he looked at the reason for his anger. 

Wooseok’s shoulders were slumped, as if he was trying to make himself as small as possible, hoping to not be in Seungyoun’s sight anymore, wanting more than anything to just vanish and be anywhere but there. Wanting anything but to have to face Seungyoun alone, without anyone else there to keep an eye on him. 

Before anyone could say anything else, Seungyoun spoke up, “Fine. Let’s go.”

Hangyul, who was standing closest to Wooseok, could just barely hear how he gulped, and it took everything in him to not grab the older male’s hand to comfort and reassure him. He couldn’t. Not now. Realizing this hurt him more than he could’ve ever thought it would. He didn’t want to think of the situation, he didn’t want to talk about it, but he knew he would have to. Seungyoun was definitely going to ask him about it and he was fully aware that Seungyoun would never ask him to talk about anything he didn’t want to talk about, but Hangyul knew, in the back of his mind, that if he didn’t talk about it he would feel worse, and that if there was ever anyone he could talk to, it was Seungyoun. 

When he snapped out of his thoughts the two had already left the room. He wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or concerned, so he settled for a horrible combination of the two. 

The silence was broken by the creaking of the chair that Seungwoo sat down on. He sighed. Neither of them knew what to say. What could be said in this situation? Hangyul still didn’t know how he felt or how he should be feeling. 

Minutes passed and just as Seungwoo was about to ask Hangyul a question, they heard a crash from the other side of the apartment. The two looked at each other with widened eyes before scrambling out of the room to see what had happened. 

Within a few seconds they were in the kitchen, faced with Seungyoun and Wooseok glaring at each other, between them two glasses which were completely shattered. 

“Oh my god what happened, are you okay?” Hangyul’s voice was laced with worry. “I’m fine,” both Seungyoun and Wooseok replied at the same time without missing a beat, neither of them looking away. 

Hangyul bent down to pick up the larger shards but before he could pick up more than two, Wooseok was by his side, telling him he would do it and that he would get hurt otherwise. None of them missed how Seungyoun scoffed at the gesture. To everyone’s surprise, most of all his own, Hangyul spoke back, his voice sounding firmer than he had expected. “Just let me do it. You don’t have to protect me from everything. I’m fine. ” 

If Hangyul had looked at Wooseok for more than the few seconds it took him to say that, he would have noticed how the latter’s face dropped, hurt written all over it, not used to hearing harsh words from the boy.

Wooseok hesitantly got back up, taking a step back. Once again, the space between the four was filled with silence and tension. 

“So what happened to the glasses?” Hangyul asked. It seemed he was the only one who could break the silence. 

Neither Wooseok nor Seungyoun replied. 

Hangyul looked up, almost meeting Wooseok’s eyes, but he didn’t want to look at him for longer than a second. He couldn’t. So he turned to Seungyoun. “What happened to the glasses?” he repeated. Seungyoun opened his mouth to speak, but got interrupted by Wooseok. “It was my fault,” he started, causing Hangyul to turn around and have to look at him, even though he would rather not. “I was moving my arm around and accidentally knocked them over, I’ll buy you new ones,” he continued, the words rushed as if he wanted to be done with talking as soon as possible.

The sudden confession surprised Seungyoun more than anyone, seeing as he had been the one to break the glasses, having thrown them on the floor near Wooseok’s feet out of anger. 

Hangyul knew the glasses hadn’t been near where Wooseok was standing, because he had put them on the counter next to Seungyoun just an hour before, but he kept quiet. 

“I think it might be time for us to leave now,” Seungwoo spoke up after a few seconds. He looked pointedly at Wooseok and nudged his head towards the door. “Yeah, we’ll get going...” Wooseok added, then turning to Hangyul, looking as though he wanted to say something, but then changed his mind and walked towards the door without a word. Seungwoo followed closely behind, offering the two remaining boys a small smile. 

Neither of them reciprocated it.


	2. II

Hangyul and Seungyoun sat in silence for ten minutes after that. “What did he tell you?” Hangyul asked, his voice sounding small again. “Everything. At least I sure hope he did.” Seungyoun’s voice sounded less angry than before, but it still lacked the warmth it usually had.

“Where did he start?” Hangyul sounded unsure as he asked this. He didn’t want to have to think of this. He hated feeling as weak as he did when he thought of everything that had happened. 

“Thursday afternoon,” Seungyoun answered, not needing to say more. Hangyul felt his eyes start to sting with tears.  _ Fuck, _ he thought.  _ Fuck fuck fuck.  _ His chest started aching as he recalled the past few days, the past few moments of happiness he had had. 

_ Thursday _

_ “I’m telling you, the backstreet boys are older than nsync. I’m sure of it!” “No way, I swear nsync are older!” “Oh my god, just look it up” “Hey stay out of it, this is a very personal discussion.” “Dear god.” “I’ll look it up, get ready to eat your words pretty boy.” _

_ Jinhyuk took the time it took Hangyul to look up the facts to jokingly shake his head at Wooseok. “How do you guys always have the most useless discussions?” he asked. Before Wooseok could answer, Hangyul interrupted. “Look! Backstreet boys released their first song in 1993 and nsync in 95! I told you so!” “Alright, I concede. You were right,” Wooseok playfully raised his hands and giggled at how happy Hangyul looked after confirming that he had been right.  _

_ He always loved looking at Hangyul when he was excited. His smile reached his eyes more than ever, his entire face wrinkled with happiness. He looked on top of the world, like nothing could bring him down. Wooseok wished he would always be happy like that, he wished he would always be the one to make him smile.  _

_ He didn’t realize then that that wouldn’t be the case.  _

_ Friday _

_ “Hey, you forgot your book yesterday,” Wooseok greeted Hangyul with a smile and a kiss on his cheek. No matter how often he had done it, it never failed to make Hangyul’s ears turn red. “I was looking for that this morning, thank you,” Hangyul said to the older male with a smile while putting his tattered copy of Catcher in the Rye in his bag.  _

_ “Shall we go?” Wooseok asked. “We shall,” Hangyul replied. The two boys reached out to hold each others hands at the same time, eliciting small laughs from both of them, and with that they started walking towards the entrance of the fun fair.  _

_ They spent the day practically running from food truck to food truck, only stopping to play games to win stuffed toys along the way.  _

_ As they entered the line for the ferris wheel, Hangyul let out a deep breath. “Oh my god, I should not have had that last churro,” he said while patting his stomach. Wooseok laughed, “I told you it would be too much. You always do the same thing!”  _

_ The two boys looked at each other fondly as they sat down in cart number 13. They loved these afternoons. Every second Friday of the month they would go to the fun fair, it had been their thing for nearly two years. They always saved the ferris wheel for last, just like they had done one and a half years ago. The day they had first kissed, right there in cart number 13. They always thought it was ironic how they had felt like the luckiest people on earth while in a cart with an unlucky number. Hangyul smiled at the memory.  _

_ “Why are you grinning, what are you thinking about?” Wooseok asked him. “You,” Hangyul replied, the smile on his face never faltering. “Oh my god I take that back, that was way too cheesy, yuck.” Hangyul scrunched his nose, cringing at himself. Wooseok couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re cute,” he softly told his boyfriend with a smile. Hangyul smiled back. “I know, right?” _

_ They spent the rest of the ferris wheel ride wrapped in each other’s arms, enjoying the view.  _

_ As they walked up to Hangyul’s apartment’s door, Wooseok spoke up, “I had fun today, can’t wait for next month.” Wooseok always looked at Hangyul as if he held the world in his hands. “Me too, I’m already counting down the days,” Hangyul replied. He looked at Wooseok as if he held his heart in his hands.  _

_ While Hangyul unlocked the door he asked Wooseok if he would be staying the night. “I can’t, Seungwoo’s welcome back party is tonight,” the elder replied, an apologetic smile gracing his face. Hangyul then remembered how Wooseok had told him about his childhood friend moving back into his place with Wooseok and that they were throwing him a surprise party. “I have to go visit my mother tomorrow, but I’ll come over on Sunday, alright?” Wooseok wrapped his arms around Hangyul’s back as he suggested the compromise. “Sounds good,” Hangyul replied, snaking his own arms around Wooseok’s waist.  _

_ The couple parted ways with a few kisses, gentle smiles and whispered ‘goodbye’’s.  _

_ Saturday _

_ Hangyul woke up to his phone indicating a new text message had just come in. He groaned, rubbed his eyes and grabbed the device.  _ ** _Jinhyuk, 5 new messages _ ** _ his phone read. “What the hell?” he asked himself. Jinhyuk barely ever texted him, he usually sent him emails because of some stupid inside joke they had had for years. Hangyul had tried to get him to stop, but Jinhyuk thought it was hilarious, so to no avail.  _

_ Hangyul opened his messages, going to the conversation with Jinhyuk immediately.  _

** _hey_ **

** _are you awake_ **

** _have you heard from wooseok_ **

** _u might wanna talk to him bro_ **

** _idk if it’s any of my business but I think it might be important _ **

_ “What the hell?” Hangyul repeated. To say he was confused would be an understatement.  _

** _?????_ **

** _no i haven’t heard from him_ **

** _he’s visiting his mom now tho_ **

** _no phone service there_ **

** _talk to him when you can then_ **

** _can’t u just tell me what this is abt_ **

** _kinda really fuckin confused_ **

** _just talk to him when you can_ **

_ Hangyul figured asking Jinhyuk to tell him again wouldn’t get him any results anyway so he just sent a quick message to Wooseok asking him to let him know when he got back, then locked his phone and threw it to the foot end of the bed. He sighed and quietly cursed Jinhyuk for causing him to continue to spend his whole day confused and worried about Wooseok. _

_ As his phone showed the time changing from 23:59 to 00:00, he got a message from Wooseok.  _

** _just got back_ **

** _really tired so i’ll text u in the morning_ **

** _hope you had a good day_ **

** _love you <3_ **

** _alright_ **

** _sleep well_ **

** _love you too <3_ **

_ His messages were sent but not delivered.  _

_ Sunday _

_ Once again, Hangyul woke up to his phone buzzing because of new messages, this time not from Jinhyuk.  _

** _Wooseok ♡, 4 new messages_ ** _ , he saw on the lockscreen.  _

** _morning baby_ **

** _hope you slept well_ **

** _is it alright if i come over in a bit?_ **

** _and if seungwoo comes too? he wants to meet you_ **

_ Hangyul smiled at his screen slightly _

** _yeah of course!_ **

** _u can come over in an hour or so_ **

** _gotta clean up a bit_ **

_ After sending the messages he got up and padded to the bathroom slowly. Just as he was about to get in the shower he got a message from Wooseok, confirming the plans.  _

_ Hangyul spent the half hour after his shower tidying up the living room and kitchen that he shared with Seungyoun. He had met Seungyoun just three years ago, but the two quickly became closer than you would think possible, there was nothing they didn’t know about each other by now. Besides, perhaps, how Seungyoun had lied about breaking his arm from falling out of a tree trying to save a cat, when it had really happened because he ran along a pool and slipped, just as his mother had warned him countless times.  _

_ Before he knew it, the doorbell rang. Quickly wiping his hands on his pants, Hangyul made his way to the door. When he opened it he was met with two bright smiles, both Wooseok and Seungwoo looking like they had harnessed the sun into their faces. “Hi,” Wooseok spoke in a soft voice, taking a step forward, wrapping his arm around Hangyul’s middle and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Seungwoo immediately noticed how Hangyul’s ears turned a light shade of pink.  _

_ “Hangyul, meet Seungwoo and Seungwoo, meet Hangyul!” Hangyul thought Wooseok was already smiling big, but he was slightly shocked to see his smile spread even further across his face as he finally introduced his boyfriend to his best friend. “It’s nice to meet you! I’ve heard a lot of stories,” Hangyul chuckled as they shook hands. “Great to finally meet you too, he doesn’t shut up about you,” Seungwoo responded with a small laugh.  _

_ As the three of them got settled in the living room Hangyul suddenly remembered Jinhyuk’s messages from the day before.  _

** _u might wanna talk to him bro_ **

_ What did they need to talk about? _

_ Hangyul figured he would just ask later.  _

_ Thirty minutes passed and Hangyul kept thinking of it. Might as well ask now, right? “Hey Woo, I got a message from Jinhyuk yesterday saying that there was something we should maybe talk about. Do you know what he meant? He wouldn’t elaborate.” _

_ If you weren’t paying attention you would have missed how Wooseok’s face fell the slightest bit, and his face lost some colour. Hangyul noticed it, though. He also noticed how Seungwoo’s eyes widened slightly as he asked the question. Hangyul was even more confused than before.  _

_ “Wooseok? Are you alright?” Hangyul gave the hand he was holding a light squeeze.  _

_ “I, uhm, I-“ Wooseok’s stuttering was interrupted by a small coughing fit. Hangyul leaned forward to tap and rub soothing circles on his back.  _

_ “Yeah, I uh… There is something we should talk about,” Wooseok said, his voice suddenly a lot quieter than before. Hangyul was starting to worry. Wooseok suddenly stood up, starting to pace a little bit, almost seeming as if he was trying to subtly move away from Hangyul. Hangyul looked over at Seungwoo, who was hard to read. He almost looked… apologetic? _

_ “Well, it’s more that there’s something I should tell you.”  _

_ Hangyul’s entire body was tense, he was scared he knew what was coming, but he was praying it wouldn’t be that. Anything but that.  _

_ “Something happened on Friday, at the party. It shouldn’t have happened, I honestly can’t remember how it happened, but it happened and you deserve to know. Fuck why is this so hard to say?” Wooseok was pacing more fervently.  _

_ “I just have to say it,” Wooseok mumbled to himself, his hands in his hair, looking at the ground.  _

_ Without looking up he spoke the words Hangyul was dreading to hear so much.  _

_ “Gyul, I- I cheated on you. I can’t begin to explain how sorry I am, please just tell me what I can do, what I have to-“ _

_ “Excuse me?” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my twt is @han9yeol feel free to drop me a cc or smth <3

**Author's Note:**

> hi i haven’t written in a hot minute so bear with me lol
> 
> this is unbeta’ed pls ignore mistakes hhh
> 
> my twitter is @han9yeol if u want to ask me smth on my cc or anything <3


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